Seafood chain FishWorks has raised £4.4m from its first day of trading on the Alternative Investment Market, which it joined earlier this week.

This gives the chain, which has restaurants in Bath, Bristol, Christchurch and London (Chiswick and Marylebone), a market value of £10.7m.

Winner of the Tio Pepe ITV Fish Restaurant of the Year for 2005, the company said in a statement it was “delighted” with the warm response its shares had received.

FishWorks plans to open a new site in London’s Islington shortly and to grow by four to five restaurants a year over the next three years to a total of 19.

Its restaurants serve only fresh fish and include a traditional fishmonger and cookery school.

FishWorks was incorporated as a public company on 3 April 2000 and had been trading on OFEX since August 2000.

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